UAE pardons Muslim Brotherhood cleric's son al-Qaradawi

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UAE pardons Muslim Brotherhood cleric’s son sentenced to 10 years

September 4, 2026

DUBAI,— The United Arab Emirates has pardoned Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdulrahman Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the state news agency WAM reported on Friday.

The pardon came from UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan MBZ, just a week after Qaradawi was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Qaradawi is the son of the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

He was arrested in Lebanon in December 2024 after he posted an online video criticizing officials in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Lebanese authorities handed him over to the UAE in January 2025. At the time, WAM said he faced charges of “engaging in activities that aim to stir and undermine public security.”

Human rights groups and United Nations experts had pushed for his release. They argued he was jailed simply for using his right to free speech.

Qaradawi’s father died in 2022. He had served as a spiritual guide for the Muslim Brotherhood and was a strong supporter of the 2011 Arab Spring protests.

His preaching often angered leaders in Egypt and across the Gulf.

The elder al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born Salafi cleric, was regarded as the top spiritual figure of the Brotherhood.

Salafi Islamic cleric and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, 2018. Photo: Creative Commons/wikimedia

During the wave of uprisings across the Arab world more than ten years ago, he became known as a leading voice of the revolution.

In the 1990s and 2000s, al-Qaradawi played a major role in shaping the Brotherhood’s approach, which focused on reaching Islamic rule in Egypt and other countries through democratic methods.

Critics said he and the group used moderate language to mask more extreme goals.

That approach faced a real test during the 2011 Arab Spring, when longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak was forced from power. The outcome for the Brotherhood was ultimately negative.

The group won power in the elections that followed, the freest in Egypt’s history. However, its actions raised concerns among rivals that it wanted to control the country entirely.

After massive street protests, the military removed the Brotherhood from power in 2013 and launched a harsh crackdown against it.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who has led Egypt since then, has faced criticism from rights groups who say his rule is more repressive than Mubarak’s was.

Al-Qaradawi spent decades in exile in Qatar, where the ruling family backed him, and he died there. In 2013, an Egyptian court tried him in absentia and sentenced him to death.

He hosted a popular program on the Qatar-based network Al-Jazeera called “Shariah and Life.” On the show, he answered questions from viewers across the Muslim world, covering topics from everyday concerns to sensitive political matters.

He described himself as an independent voice, separate from clerics in other Arab nations who were often controlled by their governments. Critics, though, claimed he served as a mouthpiece for Qatar.

He backed suicide bombings and other attacks carried out by Palestinians against Israel.

He also expressed support for the insurgency in Iraq against American forces after the 2003 invasion that removed Saddam Hussein from power.

On Feb. 21, 2011, al-Qaradawi issued a fatwa, a religious ruling, that allowed for the killing of Muammar Gaddafi.

The UAE has issued pardons to more than 2,796 prisoners ahead of the Eid Al-Adha holiday in 2026. Separately, in April 2026, the UAE freed Issam Buwaydani following a visit by Syria’s president Sharaa.

(With files from Reuters, Agencies)